The Design Bubble
Graphic created in InDesign
Helvetica vs. Comic Sans is not the only topic of conversation I have in my arsenal. That being said, I do enjoy a good typography joke as much as the next person.
So something you might not know about me, is that I went to design school for about a year before I decided to go full force with my writing. The thing I loved about design school was the sense of collaboration and community that came with it. That being said, I noticed that no one really left the building.
A lot of people think it's a joke that people in design school live and sleep in the design school building.
But I can tell you firsthand, hammocks and late-nights are the usual for the design student crew. In fact, the mere thought of leaving the building can be unsettling for some. It can be easy to talk only about the project you’re working on, or the program you’re working with.
Photo from my design school,
where typography became the
star of the bathroom art.
Because the thing about design school you’re not warned about, is that once you enter the design bubble, it’s sure as heck hard to get out.
It’s all pretty ironic, though, because in order to have something to design, you need inspiration. For me, it was when I left that design bubble that I found inspiration. I heard this great quote recently which summed it all up: Design should come from life, not from design itself.
If we’re only designing for designing’s sake, we will have a very small perspective to design from.
For me, breaking free of the design bubble is what helped me to design and not wreak crazy design havoc.
If any fellow designers are reading this, give me a shout out.
Have you experienced design bubble syndrome?
Note: Inspired by Dann Petty and his vid Design Confessions — 019